About us: Our people - Board

Simon Bax
Chairman

Simon Bax joined the board of Archant as chairman on May 1, 2014.
Simon has held a number of senior executive positions in the media industry including Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Chiat/Day, the global advertising agency; as CFO and President of Studio Operations of Fox Filmed Entertainment, the parent of Twentieth Century Fox and subsequently as EVP and CFO of Pixar Animation Studios.
In 2008, he co-founded and became Chief Executive of Encompass Digital Media Inc, an international leader in the provision of network origination services and fibre transmissions and digital media encoding services.
Simon is a Non-executive Director of Inmarsat Plc, the FTSE 150 provider of global mobile satellite communications services.
He also is a non-executive director of British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association and Chairs WiSpire in which Archant is an investor.

Jeff Henry
Chief Executive

Jeff Henry joined Archant as Chief Executive on 1 September 2014.
Jeff has a long and successful background in the media business. He has held senior management positions at a number of companies including Scottish TV, NYNEX, Granada/Sky, Hallmark and ITV.
Jeff was most recently the CEO of Filmflex Movies, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Television and The Walt Disney Company, which he developed into one of the largest white label, video on demand (VOD) businesses in Europe. FilmFlex Movies powered the film VOD services for companies like Virgin Media, EE and TalkTalk.

Simon Copeman
Non-Executive Director

Simon Copeman joined the board of ECNG in October 2001 as a Non-Executive Director, having previously been a member of the ECNG Newspapers board.
Since 1990 he has held a variety of general management, Six Sigma and sales and marketing positions with 3M UK plc and is currently their Manager of 3M Traffic Safety Systems Division.

Brian McCarthy
Chief Financial Officer

Brian McCarthy joined the Board as Finance Director in November 2008.
Brian is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, having qualified with Arthur Andersen in Dublin and Cambridge, and joined Archant in January 2004 as Finance Director of its newspaper Division.
Before Archant he was Director of Finance of an environmental company and prior to that he held a series of senior finance and operations roles in the English Language Division of Pearson Education. He is also a Director of NLA Media Access (formerly the Newspaper Licensing Agency) and chairs the finance committee of the Regulatory Funding Company, funding body of press regulator IPSO.
Brian sits on a number of committees of the News Media Association and is a member of the Regional Council of the CBI in the Eastern Region.
Until recently Brian was a trustee director of City Academy Norwich and Transforming Education in Norfolk.

Mike Walsh
Non-Executive Director

Mike Walsh was appointed a non-executive director of Archant in February 2010.
Mike is a director of The Hub Limited and a non-executive of The Brand Union.
Formerly a main board director of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide for 16 years, he was also Chief Executive of their Europe, Middle East and African operations and a director of Ogilvy & Mather South Africa and of Ogilvy & Mather Africa Inc. After graduating from Durham in 1971, Mike joined Young & Rubicam and was appointed to the Board in 1981 before joining Ogilvy & Mather Plc in 1983.
Mike was for six years Chairman of the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, which is an umbrella organisation for 13 leading UK charities including The Red Cross, Oxfam and Save The Children.

David Hill
Non-Executive Director

David Hill was appointed a non-executive director of Archant in June 2013.
David has been Executive Chairman of Jarrold & Sons Ltd since 2002. He trained as a solicitor and worked in the banking department of City law firm Norton Rose, before setting up an investment banking business.
David is a Governor of the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library and a Trustee of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association. He was formerly Deputy Chair of the University of East Anglia Council, Chair of Norwich HEART and Chair of the Norwich Playhouse.

Alison Hastings
Non-Executive Director

Alison Hasting was appointed a non-executive director of Archant in August 2016.
Alison spent more than 18 years as a journalist, edited the Newcastle daily The Chronicle from 1996 until 2002 and was first made editor of The Chronicle at the age of 29.
Alison was a founding trustee of the BBC Trust, has worked as a Press Complaints Commissioner, and is currently a non-executive director for a number of organisations.